Casing feeding apparatus for ammunition reloading

ABSTRACT

A PLURALITY OF AMMUNITION SHELL OR CARTRIDGE CASE ARE SUPPORTED IN A VERTICAL COLUMN IN A FEED TUBE BY ENGAGEMENT OF THE RIM OF THE LOWERMOST SHELL AGAINST A RETRACTABLE DETENT IN A FEED THROAT AT THE LOWER END OF THE TUBE. THE DETENT IS CONTROLLED BY A PLUNGER WHICH RETRACTS IT UPON BEING CONTRACTED BY AN UPWARDLY MOVING WORK HOLDER SLIDE WHICH RECEIVES THE SHELL AS THE LATTER IS RELEASED THE RETRACTION OF THE HOLDING DETENT, AND TRANSFERS IT TO RELOADING TOOL.

L. CORCORAN A5 NG FEEDING APPARATUS FOR AMMUNITION RELOADING font. 5, 197-1 Filed Oct. 27, 1969 w mw w www z Z rV W VIV ////A7/7 fl m m w C E W P N a P mw mw V4.1 .1 v m 4. m 49w! 1 F r \xm. w w M Q a g J 5 J IE I m l 6 United States Patent O 3,610,090 CASING FEEDING APPARATUS FOR AMMUNITION RELOADING Lyle S. Corcoran, 730 N. Mariposa Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 90029 Filed Oct. 27, 1969, Ser. No. 869,736 Int. Cl. F42b 33/10 US. C]. 86-45 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A plurality of ammunition shells or cartridge cases are supported in a vertical column in a feed tube by engagement of the rim of the lowermost shell against a retractable detent in a feed throat at the lower end of the tube. The detent is controlled by a plunger which retracts it upon being contacted by an upwardly moving Work holder slide which receives the shell as the latter is released by the retraction of the holding detent, and transfers it to a reloading tool.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The reloading of ammunition casings such as sportsmens shotgun shells and law enforcement officers rifle and pistol cartridge cases, involving a series of operations such as decapping, repriming, resizing, powder, wad, and shot or bullet insertion, and end closing, has developed from an early stage of the art in which a series of tools 'and ammunition casings were successively supported on a single work axis, one by a vertically movable slide and the other by a fixed head of a press which was operable to bring the tool and casing together along the work axis so as to execute the succession of reloading steps, one by one. Examples of such a press, with a single Work axis, are disclosed in my Patents No. 2,772,629, issued Dec. 4, 1956, and 2,819,644, issued Jan. 14, 1958. Subsequent developments in reloading presses have provided an indexing turret head for presenting a succession of tools to an ammunition casing carried in a slide that is operable to move the easing into operative relation to each tool (e.g. resizing, powder-charging, Wadding, shotfilling, etc.) as the tool is indexed into registration with the axis of the casing as supported in the work holder. Such a press is disclosed in my Pat. No. 3,054,322, issued June 15, 1959. Such presses have also utilized indexing work-holders in which several casings can be supported simultaneously, one of the casings being positioned on the work axis for presentation to a tool also positioned on the work axis, while other casings'are being placed in and removed from the work holder. In all of such earlier presses, however, the casings have been placed in and removed from the work holder by hand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides for automatic casing feed in a reloading press having a stationary tool-holding head at the top of a central supporting column, and a coaxial work-holding slide operable vertically with sliding movement on the column and carrying a casing-positioning turntable operable with a rotary indexing movement to move the casings successively into positions beneath the tools for successive reloading steps; the casing feed mechanism including a feed tube mounted in the tool-holding head as one of a circular array of units for effecting said reloading steps and adapted to hold a substantial number, of ammunition casings in end-to-end array in a vertical column which is intermittently supported by engagement of the rim of the lowermost casing by a spring-loaded detent radially movable in the wall of a feed throat at the lower end of the feed tube. Upon engagement of a detent-operating plunger by the work 3,610,090 Patented Oct. 5, 1971 DESCRIPTION The general object of the invention is to provide an automatic casing feed mechanism for a reloading press. Specific objects are to provide such a feed mechanism:

(1) Which is actuated automatically by upward movement of the work holder slide to receive a casing;

(2) Which is mounted in one of a series of tool-holding sockets in the head of the press;

(3) Which is effective to feed successive casings from a vertical column onto the workholder slide.

These and other objects will become apparent in the following specifications and appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a reloading press embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an axial sectional view of the feed unit of the invention, in a normal condition in which a column of shotgun shells is supported thereby;

FIG. 3 is an axial sectional view of the feed unit being actuated to release a shell onto the work-holder slide;

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view of the feed unit taken on line 44' of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the holding detent, on an enlarged scale.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, I have shown therein, as an example of one form in which the invention may be embodied, a casing feed unit A mounted in a tool-holding head B of a reloading press having a cylindrical column C supporting the head B in a fixed position at its upper end and in turn supported by a base D at its lower end. A work-holder slide E is slidable vertically on column C and is actuated by a conventional lever and elbow linkage mechanism F similar to that shown and described in my prior Pat. No. 2,819,644.

Tool-holding head B is preferably in the form of a thick circular disc having a plurality of threaded tool-mounting bores 10 arranged in a circular array concentric with the axis of column C and equidistantly spaced circumferentially. A series of processing units (tools, dies and loading units) for effecting successive steps of a reloading cycle, such as decapping, repriming, sizing, powder loading, wadding, shot loading and end closing, are mounted in the bores 10. The series of processing units includes the feed unit A. By way of example, a powder-dispensing unit G such as is disclosed in my Patent No. 3,090,524, issued May 21, 1963, is shown in FIG. 1 in addition to the shellfeed unit A. The other processing units, which may be conventional, are not shown.

Referring now to FIGS. 2-5, feed unit A embodies a barrel 15 having an eccentric cylindrical bore providing a feed throat 16, a plunger bore 17 extending alongside throat 1 6 in the thicker portion of the barrel wall, and a counterbore 18 in which is mounted a feed tube 19. Feed tube 19 extends to a height (FIG. 1) suflicient to hold a column of ammunition casings (e.g. shotgun shells 20) in sufiicient number to feed the reloading operation for several minutes without being refilled, although a normal procedure would be to fill the tube when it is half emptied. The throat 16 and feed tube 19 (and hence the column of shells 20) are disposed on a vertical axis, so that the column of shells will dropby gravity as each shell is fed from its lower end to the slide E. The lower end of barrel 15 is threaded, at 21, for mounting in a bore 10 of head B.

Bore 17 extends from the top of barrel to a point near its lower end, where it ends in an annular plunger support seat 25 from which a smaller bore 26 extends through the lower end of the barrel. Mounted in bore 17 is a tubular plunger 27 having an integral, coaxial trigger stem 28 projecting from its lower end (defined by an annular shoulder) through bore 26 and having an axial guide bore 29 extending from its open upper end to a point just short of its lower end. Plunger 27 has a short radial bore defining a ball cage cavity 30 extending from the lower end of guide bore 29 through its lateral wall. Ball cage cavity 30 is aligned with a radius of feed throat 16, and its open end faces toward the feed throat and is adapted to register with a frusto-conical ball projection opening 35 in a thin web 38 of the barrel wall separating the feed throat 16 and plunger bore 17 where they are adjacent. In the cavity 30 is contained a detent ball 36 which is radially shiftable between a retracted position (FIG. 3) contained within plunger 27 and a projected position (FIG. 2) extending through opening 35 and engaging the rim of the lowermost shell to support the column of shells in feed tube 19. The ball 36 is contained by the frustoconical wall of opening 35 which converges to a ball seat lip 37 of a diameter smaller than the ball where the opening 35 communicates with throat 16. Plunger 27 is springloaded by a coil spring 40 retained under compression by a retainer plug 41 secured (as by a set screw 42) in the upper end of plunger bore 17. The spring loading, applied to the plunger as descirbed hereinafter, yielding maintains the plunger 27 normally in a position (FIG. 2) in which its lower end shoulder is seated on annular seat and its ball-cage cavity is positioned with its open end registering with ball-projection opening 35. Plunger 27 is retained against rotation while being freely slidable axially, by the centering action of ball 36 each time it enters projection opening 35. Any tendency of plunger 27 to rotate when raised to its position of FIG. 3, will be corrected by the centering action of ball 36 the next time it enters opening 35.

An actuator rod 45, slidably mounted in guide bore 29 within plunger 27, has an inclined lower end face providing a ramp or wedge 46 for deflecting the detent ball 36 radially through opening in response to spring loading applied to its upper end by the coil spring under compression between retainer plug 41 and a radial flange head 48 on its upper end. Such spring loading tends to move the actuator rod downwardly in plunger 27 to a limit position (FIG. 2) determined by seating of its head 48 against the upper end of the plunger. The spring loading, in this position, is transferred directly from head 48 to the plunger 27. In raised positions of the plunger, the spring loading is transferred to plunger 27 through actuator rod 45 and detent ball 36 which is engaged under compression between the lower end of the rod 45 and the bottom of ball cavity 30. The spring-loaded pressure of rod 45 against ball 36 through ramp 46, retains the rod 45 rotationally oriented with ramp 46 facing properly toward the ball 36.

Slide E comprises a bed 50 of disc form having a shallow circular counterbore 51 providing a flat bearing face supporting an indexing work-holder disc 52 which is rotatably retained in the counterbore. Disc 52 is secured to the lower end of a bearing sleeve 53 journalled on column C for manual rotation by a series of radially projecting indexing levers 54. In the disc 52 is a circular array of shell-positioning sockets 55, concentric with column C and radially positioned for alignment with axes of the tools mounted in head B.

OPERATION Spring loading is operable to maintain the plunger 27 in its lower limit position and the ball 36 projected into feed throat 16 by downward pressure of actuator rod 45 against ball 36. When slide E is elevated by operation of lever-linkage mechanism F, the downwardly projecting trigger stem 28 is engaged by work-holder slide E, forcing the plunger 27 upwardly against its spring loading. During such upward plunger movement, the ball-seat lip 37 operates with a wedgng action to force the ball 36 radially inwardly against the spring-loaded resistance of actuator rod 45 which yields upwardly under the wedging action of the ball against its lower end. When the ball is retracted out of the feed throat 16, the lower-most shell 20 will drop into the socket 55 registering with throat 16, as in FIG. 3. In order to compensate for manufacturing tolerances in the apparatus (e.g. in the linkage F) the slide E is arranged to overtravel the position where the shell is released. Such overtravel may be provided for by retracting the ball entirely within the plunger 27 and thus allowing the plunger to move upwardly in bore 17 substantially above the position in which its ball cavity 30 registers with opening 35, as in FIG. 3.

As the slide E recedes downwardly, the released lower shell 20 seated thereon will move downwardly with it, followed by the column of shells resting on the lower shell. The plunger 27 also will follow the slide E downwardly, and after a short distance of such downward movement, the plunger 27 will return to its position of FIG. 2, projecting the ball 36 back through the opening 35 substantially into engagement with the side of the downwardly moving lower shell 20 and in obstructing relation to the rim of the next higher shell, so that the latter is arrested and held while the lower shell continues to follow the slide downwardly until its upper end clears the lower end of feed unit A in the lowered position shown in phantom in FIG. 3 (which can be the lower limit position of slide E). When the slide has reached its lower limit position, the operator will grasp the nearest indexing lever 54 and will rotate the work-holder disc 52 one step of indexing movement, which will position the last-deposited shell beneath the first of the series of tools carried by head B (e.g. a downwardly projecting die for resizing and trueing the interior of the shell, operated automatically by forcing the shell upwardly over the die). At the same time, a previously deposited shell will be moved on to another station, beneath the next reloading device (eg powder dispenser G) where the next operation will be performed, and another shell will be automatically deposited in the next socket 55 of slide E. Thus with each operation of the slide and indexing of work holder disc 52, a complete series of reloading operations will be performed on the shells carried by slide E, and the first shell of the series will be closed and will be removed from the slide automatically, by a deflector plate (not shown) in response to the next indexing movement of disc 52.

I claim:

1. In an ammunition reloading press:

a tool-holding head;

a work-holder slide operable with vertically sliding movement beneath said head for presenting an am- ;lnunition casing to a reloading tool mounted in said ead;

an automatic casing feed unit mounted in said head,

said feed unit comprising:

a barrel having a vertical casing-feed throat;

a radially retractable casing-holding element, in

the form of a ball, carried by said barrel normally in obstructing relation to said throat so as to support a casing therein by engagement with its lower end;

said barrel having a plunger bore closely adjacent said throat and separated therefrom by a thin web which has an opening to receive said ball and an annular lip constricting said opening where it communicates with said throat;

and actuator means comprising a spring-loaded actuator plunger yieldingly acting on said ball to normally position it in said opening and projecting into said throat in said obstructing relation thereto, said plunger being positioned to be engaged by said work-holder slide and operable by upward sliding movement received from said slide, to press said ball against said annular lip to effect a wedging action of said lip against said ball such as to retract the ball radially to casing-releasing position so as to feed said casing by gravity onto said slide.

2. A reloading press as defined in claim 1;

said plunger having a radially extending ball cage in which said ball is movable radially in projecting and retracting movements;

and means in said plunger yieldingly urging said ball in the projecting direction.

3. A reloading press as defined in claim 2;

the last mentioned means comprising an actuator rod movable axially within said plunger and having an inclined end face engaging said ball with a wedging action;

and spring means yieldingly acting on said rod to maintain pressure of said end face against said ball.

4. A reloading press as defined in claim 3, wherein said ball cage cavity has a surface engaged by said ball in a manner to transmit spring loading to said plunger from said spring means.

5. A reloading press as defined in claim 4, wherein said spring means comprises a coil spring under compression between the other end of said actuator rod and an abutment in the adjacent end of said plunger bore.

6. In an ammunition reloading press:

a tool-holding head;

a work-holder slide operable with vertically sliding movement beneath said head for presenting an ammunition casing to a reloading tool mounted in said head;

an automatic casing feed unit mounted in said head,

said feed unit comprisnig:

a barrel having a vertical casing-feed throat;

a radially retractable casing-holding element carried by said barrel normally in obstructing relation to said throat so as to support a casing therein by engagement with its lower end;

said barrel having a plunger bore closely adjacent said throat and separated therefrom by a thin web having an opening to receive said holding element for radially projecting and retracting movements;

said plunger bore extending past said opening and having a lower end defined by an annular seat;

and actuator means positioned to be engaged by said work-holder slide upon upward movement thereof and operable to retract said holding element radially to feed said casing by gravity onto said slide;

said barrel having in its lower end a reduced bore of smaller diameter than said plunger bore, coaxial therewith and extending from said seat through said lower end;

and said actuator means comprising a plunger slidable axially in said bore and having a stern of reduced diameter slidably extended through said reduced bore and projecting below said barrel for engagement by said slide;

said plunger having a lower end in the form of an annular shoulder adapted to engage said annular seat to limit spring-loaded downward movement of the plunger.

7. A reloading press as defined in claim 6;

said plunger including a tubular body having an axial bore and a bottom portion having a radial bore joining said axial bore at its lower end;

said holding element being radially movable in said radial bore;

an actuator rod slidable in said axial bore and having a lower end in wedging engagement with said holding element;

and a coil spring engaged under compression between the upper end of said rod and an abutment at the upper end of said plunger bore;

said holding element transmitting the pressure of said spring from said rod to said plunger through the lower side of said radial bore for effecting said spring loading, in which said plunger is normally engaged against said seat so as to communicate said radial bore with said opening and to eifect projection of said holding element into said throat.

8. A reloading press as defined in claim 6, wherein said slide includes a rotatable work-positioning disc having a circular array of circumferentially spaced casingpositioning sockets adapted to be sequentially positioned beneath said feed unit and subsequently beneath successive reloading tools carried by said head in a circular array coaxial with and adapted to register with said sockets.

9. A reloading press as defined in claim 8, including means to index said disc successively to a plurality of positions for locating the casings carried in its sockets for successive reload operations.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,824,484 2/1958 Thompson 8645 3,240,104 3/1966 Bachhuber 86-23 X 3,320,848 5/1967 Ponsness 8645 X 3,336,830 8/1967 Lester, Jr. 8643 BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner I. J. DEVITT, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

